Splat X: Negative
by Punished 'Dread' Angel
Summary: An unforunate accident involving the teleporter sends Marcus 12,000 years into the future. With seemingly no possible way back to his own time, two young Inklings and an Octoling suffering from amnesia may be his only hope when an ancient evil reveals itself.
1. Prologue

A nightly storm. Nothing too uncommon around here, nowadays. RED and BLU had recently been moved to an area near Sawmill, each Mann Brother needed that Mill for the extra income, despite them labelling wood as a useless fuel.

The RED Scout, Marcus, slowly trudged up to the RED base, his clothes were soaking, just about sticking to his skin. He sighed and turned his attention briefly to the duffel bag he was holding. It may be soaked like him, but the contents were hopefully dry. As the door to the base slid open, he saw the Soldier, Diesel, carefully inspecting a new Rocket Launcher he had recently obtained. Miss Pauling was giving the teams contracts to perform and rewarding them with uniquely painted weapons. Only Soldier, Heavy, Engi, Pyro and Demo had gotten a unique weapon, but Pauling had only started handing the contracts out last week, plus, Marcus had decorated his Scattergun with a robot head from Engi's workshop, so he was perfectly fine with what he had.

"Evenin' Diesel." Marcus tipped his Bullet hole-filled Fedora as he passed the patriotic american.

"Good evening, Marcus!" Diesel stopped inspecting his weapon for every small detail he could find and saluted as Marcus passed, soon going back to carefully observing his Launcher.

Marcus slowly walked up the wooden stairs to the main room, inside were the Heavy, Medic, Sniper and Demo "I'm back, guys!" Marcus grinned, setting the bag he was carrying onto the table closest to him. Sniper jerked awake as the bag clunked onto the table.

"About time, M. We been waitin' forever." He yawned and got to his feet, scratching his back. He walked up to the bag, opened it and took out a can of Fizzy Orange Bonk! and a chunk of grilled Kangaroo "Ah, you know my favourite." He gave Marcus a glad smile and returned to his seat to begin his meal.

"Ah woulda gotten ya all more, but Éric put me on a tight budget. Only had enough to get us all a drink and a small bit of food each." Marcus shrugged as Heavy came over to get his food, a Sandwich and some Russian Beer.

"Many thanks, Marcus." He nodded as he returned to the table that he and Austin, the Medic, were sharing.

"Any time, Misha. Hey, Aust, ya gonna get anythin'?" Marcus nodded and turned his eyes to the german.

"Ach, I'm not exactly hungry, right now. I'll have some later. But danke, anyway." Austin looked up from the chess game he was playing with Misha.

"Alright. Anyway, I gotta get changed. I'm soaked over here." Marcus turned around and headed for the changing rooms, as he entered, he saw Demo's custom Sticky Bomb Launcher lying on the floor "Demo, ya left ya Sticky Launcher on the floor!" The 18 year old called out, but got no reply. He shrugged and put the weapon where it should be, in Demo's locker. That was unlocked, the majority of the time "What we gonna do with ya?" Marcus chuckled as he closed the locker quickly, assuring the weapons didn't spill onto the floor.

Marcus soon returned to the main room, deciding to put on his sports jacket and Cross-Comm Express. He often liked to pretend he could see how strong people were with the red monocole and laugh. Éric, the Spy, had appeared in the room and was casually eating a Baguette and drinking some wine. Having nothing else to do, Marcus decided to head upstairs to Engi's workshop. As he opened the door, he saw Engi hammering at a machine.

"Hey there, Marcus. Just saying, don't touch anything right now. Especially the Teleporter, it's acting up because of the storm." The Texan said, pointing to the Teleporter in question, without even looking to Marcus.

"Alright, Dell." Marcus nodded and went to some scrap in the corner, trying to find something to try and construct out of the pieces. After a few minutes of fiddling about, he got up, inderictly kicking away some pieces of scrap "Hey, Engi. Ya seen thi-Whoa!" He tripped over the previously kicked scrap that had lodged into a hole in the floor.

Dell watched like a deer in headlights at Marcus hit his head on the desk and fell straight onto the teleporter as it sparked, it exploded as Marcus vanished into nothingness, leaving only a shell of particles that fell to the floor "Oh, crap! Marcus! Fellas! Ah need some help over here!" Dell quickly collected the scraps of the teleporter, shoving whatever he had been hammering to the side and trying to meld the teleporter back together.

Marcus found himself floating in the middle of the ocean, facing the sky. He slowly opened his eyes, the sun blindng him temporarily, when the glare faded, he corrected himself and looked around francticly. It was hard to concentrate with water constantly being tossed at him, so he pulled the goggles from his hat over his eyes "Alright! Alright! Ya just got teleported somewhere random, hopefully near the country." He soon spied a piece of land in the distance "That's gotta be home." He sighed in relief and began swimming towards the land. After what seemed like hours of swimming and nearly drowning several times, the young man eventually crawled onto a beach, coughing. He looked up and saw three figures watching him, then his vision slowly faded as he collapsed from exhaustion. The last thing he felt was being dragged through the sand by some force, he presumed it was the three figures that he had seen.

 **Surprise! You're getting it early! I know I said christmas, but I want time to release the sequel so it can lead to another little story planned for February. The sequel will come out around November, so there's that. I really have no idea what else to write right now, so...yeah. ONWARDS!**


	2. The Future

Marcus slowly awoke what seemed to be several hours later, he was in a bed. A really small bed.

"If ya gonna save me, at least give me a big enough bed." He sighed, quickly swinging his legs out of the bed. He kicked something. He quickly got to his feet to see whatever he had hit. There was a young girl with shiny, long black hair lying on the ground, she had a purple and black design on her clothes, the same colours were seemingly dyed into her hair.

"Ack! Kid, you alright?" Marcus shook the girl, waking her up.

"I'm fine. But look where you're moving next time, eh?" The girl stood up, brushing some dirt off her arm "Plus, we did save you, so I think I deserve an immediate apology." She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow. Marcus quickly got a good look of her face. She had some weird black superhero mask on, green eyes with crosses for pupils and what he presumed was a birth mark under her left eye.

"Wait, you saved me? Where are the other two?" Marcus looked around to see if the other figures he had seen were in the room. They weren't "Oh, and sorry." He stood up, grabbing his bag from nearby "I don't know who you were with, but tell them I said thanks." He left the room, it lead to a small hallway with stairs at the opposite side of the room he had just left. He quickly ran down them, then saw the door to the outside. It was locked.

"Darn." He quickly looked around for the keys, they were hanging off a window. He grabbed them, unlocked the door and quickly sprinted out, nearly tripping over a pale creature "Sorry, sir!" He quickly looked back, then turned his attention to his front.

"Alright, let's see where we are, shall we?" He pulled out a small device from his pocket, it whirred into action and a map showed on the screen, showing several locations nearby. The closest was Sawmill "Alright, awesome! I'm not too far from base!" He grinned and looked around for somewhere to help him travel. People would probably know about him, considering the war and decided to take the back alleys to stay out of view. Occasionally, he would see people, all wearing the same masks as the girl he had met earlier. Some had long hair that went down to their knees and some had their hair tied up. For some reason, the 'hair' was incredibly reflective in the light. The hair even seemed to be like tentacles from a few angles.

Ignoring the odd hairstyles, Marcus eventually arrived at...a ciff "Hang on, how did I end up here?" He checked the map, Sawmill was rather close by "Where's Upward?" He input 'Upward' into the search option. He was already there. Inspecting the surrounding area, he saw the RED base and it was in horrible condition "Oh man, what happened?" He ran into the building and headed straight for the spawn point. The hole that the BLU team would push their Bomb Cart into had been filled with water, so much that it looked like it was about to overflow. The spawn room was filled with leaves, it was like Sniper's apartment, a jungle. Finally remembering that his GPS could tell the date, he whipped it out and checked.

20064

Was that even a date? Marcus turned the device off and on, just to be sure. It still read 20064, no matter how many times he rebooted the device.

"What's going on?" He scratched his head "I need to find that girl." He ran out of the building and retraced his steps to get back to the city he had previously been in. It was getting late by the time he arrived, if he was going to find the girl, he would have to hurry. By sheer luck, he tripped over the same girl.

 _"Jeez, how old are these lot? They look like teenagers, but they're so...short."_ He held up his torso using his elbows, looking back to the girl, who was glaring at him. Marcus took a quick look around, there were two other people with the girl and others walking around, all of them seemed to be almost his height.

"Sorry about that. I was lookin' for ya, anyway. Um, where are we, exactly?" Marcus got to his feet, also helping the girl up.

"Well first, you ower me another apology and at least let me tell you my name." The girl crossed her arms and huffed.

"Fine, what's your name?" Marcus sighed, putting his hands on his hips _"I have too many things to do right now."_

"Well, I'm Callie" Callie grinned and turned to another person behind her, this one had a green dress and white hair that was tied back behind her head "And this is Marie! We're the Squid Sisters!" The two struck a pose together, raising one hand above their heads.

A gust of wind blew past, Marcus sighed "Ok, Callie, where are we?"

"First off, you're an idiot for not knowing what this place is and-" Callie was interrupted by a gun being pointed at her and Marie.

"Get to the damn point. I have a lot of things to do right now." Marcus' grip on the Scattergun tightened.

"Alright, alright! Jeez, impatient much? You're in Inkopolis, the capital of Amerinka." Callie pushed the Scattergun away from her, death staring Marcus.

Marcus checked his GPS "No, this is New York."

"Well, I don't know what kinda PPT you have, but this isn't 'New York'." Callie sighed "Come on, Marie. Let's go." She turned around and started walking, the old man that had been watching the event followed them.

"Wow, I was smack talked by someone who's, like, four years younger than me. That's new." Marcus shook his head as he put his weapon back into the bag. After that, he spent several hours asking people where he was, what was going on and why everyone wore the same mask. All he learned that he was surrounded by Inklings, a form of squid that could switch between a humanoid and squid form at will. _"Did one of Engi's experiments fall into the water?"_ Marcus grunted as he sat on a bench in the plaza of Inkopolis. He never learned anything of why everywhere read 20064, though.

*12,000 years into the past*

"Marcus has been sent into ze future!?" Austin gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth.

"Unfortunately, yes. And ah have no idea how to get him back." Dell sighed, holding his hard hat in his hands, looking down "But ah will keep trying to find a way to get him back, I promise ya, even if it kills me." He turned from his team, putting the yellow hat back on.

"Anythin' we can do to help, mate?" Sniper shrugged.

"If y'all can do some readin' up on time travel and maybe gather some Australlium, ah think that might help us." Dell stopped and turned his head to Sniper, then turned back and continued to his workshop.

"You heard the man! Get moving!" Diesel barked, pointing to a pile of books in the corner of the room.

*20064*

Marcus aimlessly wandered through the city. It was midnight. As he trudged through a street of houses, he heard a door open close by. He looked to where it might have come from, surprisingly, despite the darkness, he recognized the house that the noise had could have come from, the house that he first talked to Callie. Eventually, something grabbed his hand. Looking down, Marcus saw who it was, Marie.

"Hey, aren't you that Marie kid?" Marcus tilted his head.

Marie looked up and nodded quickly, using all her force to drag Marcus to the house.

"You want me to come inside?" Marcus removed his hand from Marie's grip and looked to the house.

Marie nodded again.

"I'm not sure, your sister doesn't really like me." Marcus laughed slightly, remembering Callie's attitude earlier that day.

Marie started dragging Marcus again, eventually managing to get him to the front door. Marcus got himself out of Marie's grip once again, allowing the girl to turn on the light. Callie was sitting at the top of the stairs, arms and legs crossed, glaring at Marie. The white haired girl hid behind Marcus.

"I told you to ignore him, especially if he were to come through here!" Callie shouted, narrowing her eyes. Marie whimpered as she tried to completely remove herself from Callie's view.

"Leave her alone." Marcus put one hand on Marie's head, giving Callie a glare of his own "She was trying to help."

"And why should I listen to you of all people?" Callie grunted, standing up and walking up to Marcus, fist clenched.

"You shouldn't. I'm just a guy you rescued off the beach, kicked you, tripped over you and pointed a gun at you. Where's your parents?" Marcus looked around, at that exact moment, the old man that had previously been with the two girls entered the hall.

"Callie, leave your cousin alone. Oh, you're the lad from earlier today. How did you get here?" He scolded the girl, then turned to Marcus.

"Well, I was wandering around with nothing to do, then Marie here" Marcus turned around to Marie, who slowly came out of her small hiding spot "she decided to bring me over here. She hasn't told me why."

"Well, Marie is a very kind soul. Sorry she hasn't said much, she's shy around new people and Callie's been a bit, well, I guess moody can be a good word." The old man laughed.

"I'm right here, you know!" Callie barked from the top of the stairs, Marcus and Cuttlefish chose to ingore her.

"Oh, I see. Well, I probably shouldn't be here for long. Feels like I'm kinda intruding. I need to find some places, see and" A yawn escaped Marcus before he could finish.

"Get some sleep?" The old man chuckled "Speaking of sleep, ye two should be gettin' back to bed." He looked to Marie, then to Callie.

"Yes, Grampa Cuttlefish." Marie said quietly, going upstairs and avoiding Callie, who gave Marcus one final glare, then dissapeared.

"Now, I have some questions I need to ask ye, now that they're gone." Cuttlefish invited Marcus into another room, there was a fireplace, a sofa and a small table with some form of cakes layed out onto a plate.

"I already know one of 'em." Marcus rolled his eyes and sat down, Cuttlefish sat in a chair that was facing him.

"First off, what are you?" He put his hand together.

"A human. But I honestly ask myself that question every now and then." Marcus sighed, memories of some of the horrible things Redmond had made him do appeared in his mind, but vanished almost immediatly.

 _"A surface creature?"_ Cuttlefish slowly nodded "I see, what's your name?"

"Marcus."

"That's an interesting name, Marcus. My name is Plankle Cuttlefish. You can call me Cuttlefish, if you wish, however." Cuttlefish grinned, though it was hard to see behind his beard.

 _"He's awfully friendly. Especially considering I threatened to shoot Callie."_ Marcus shook the thought away, maybe Cuttlefish hadn't been paying any attention "I appreciate your kindness, but I need answers myself."

"Those are?" Cuttlefish tilted his head.

"Why haven't I seen a single human since I got here?"


	3. First Visit to the Valley

"I knew this question was coming. See, about 12,000 years ago now, the planet's sea levels began to rise, that's when what you call Squids then evolved into Inklings, the same happened with a rival race, the Octopus, now called Octarians." Cuttlefish shook his head as he explained the apocalyptic events.

 _" I had a feeling that this was the future. It feels a lot more tropical than boiling hot outside."_ Marcus thought, sighing "Ok, look, I'm a Mercenary. A killer. I think it's better that I try and find a way home. You Inklings must have a time machine with your technology, right?"

"No, but the Octarians have really advanced tech, maybe if you-" Marcus was already outside before Cuttlefish had finished, he grabbed a map and was heading straight for 'Octo Valley'

"Come on, these guys gotta have a time machine!" He arrived at a parking lot that looked out over a cloud filled valley that had several large pieces of rock floating in the air "Well this is unique. Hm?" He saw several of what seemed to be these Octarians Cuttlefish had told him about carrying machinery up a ramp close by. As he was distracted, something shot him in the back.

"What?" Marcus turned around, there was a trail of purple paint leading up to him "Who would shoot with paint?"

"That's not paint." A voice said. Marcus quickly pulled out his Scattergun, a few more shots hit him, staining his jacket.

"Oh, that's never going to come out! Thanks a lot, buddy!" He yelled and began firing, a shadow constantly dashed about around him, he could never hit it, no matter what he did "Alright, who are you?"

The shadow stopped moving and slowly moved closer. Marcus held his gun up to the figure who came from the shadow, it was an Octarian, she had large square sunglasses, purple tentacles and a brown leather jacket. She folded her arms and looked up "The real question is, what are you and why are you here?"

"I'm not gonna tell you who I am" Marcus pushed the Scattergun onto the Octarian's forehead "But where's your damn time machine?"

The Octarian paused, then burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Marcus lowered his gun, gritting his teeth.

"We don't have a time machine, idiot! Who told you that?" The Octarian laughed.

Feeling like an absoloute fool, Marcus stuffed his gun back in his bag and quickly left the valley. He then immediatly stopped "Oh, she is so lying!" He ran back into the valley, the Octarian was gone, but there was a bridge he hadn't seen before connecting the piece of land he was on to a floating piece of rock "Mine mine mine mine mine mine!" Marcus laughed as he ran up the bridge to the floating rock. There were two Octarians on guard at the top, Marcus quickly threw them both off the edge "Mine."

There was a large white building in the center of the rock. Marcus smashed the keypad and the door slowly opened, inside was a glowing blue machine, surrounded by Octarians and a larger one on a podium.

"Ok, I know my limits. I need some backup for this." Marcus sighed and promptly left the valley, the Octarian he had met earlier watched him from high on a wall. She grinned and began following him in the shadows.

Once Marcus returned to Inkopolis, he realised how tired he was. Deciding that he probably wouldn't have enough energy to get back to Cuttlefish's house, he decided to sleep in an alley, despite the darkness, the dirt and the few rats. Then again, there was the time he had to sleep in Kong King, that wasn't nice.

As he sat down, he realised how dirty everything was "I've made a horrible mistake. Well, guess there's no going back, now." He slowly drifted off to sleep.

He was awoken the next morning by somebody tugging on his arm. Without opening his eyes, Marcus grinned "Good morning, Marie." He laughed gently and opened one eye, Marie was standing next to him, both hands gripping his arm. She turned around and Marcus saw Callie at the end of the alley, talking to Cuttlefish.

"So, how did you find me?" Marcus stood up.

"U-Um, well..." Marie put her hands behind her back and nervously rubbed her foot on the floor.

"No need to answer. Guess I would stick out a bit." Marcus chuckled.

Callie marched up to the two of them "Gramps says I need to apologize to the both of ya." _"Don't get why I should, though. Can never trust anyone who Marie likes."_

Marcus held his hand out "Alright, I accept it. But try being nicer to Marie."

Callie grudgingly shook Marcus' hand.

Marcus turned round to Marie and kneeled down to get eye level with her "Listen, it's probably best that we stay apart, you know? I'm a lot different than you think I am. Don't worry, Callie's gonna be nicer to ya now. But, if she ever upsets you" He put one hand on her shoulder "Try and find me, ok?" He stood back up and started walking "See ya, Callie." He grinned, stopping when he reached Cuttlefish, he shook his hand, then started running back to Octo Valley. Maybe that machine wouldn't be guarded, today. Hopefully, it was a time machine.

*Dell's Workshop, 12,000 years ago*

"Any luck?" Éric casually entered Dell's workshop, watching the texan quickly building a teleporter, adding all kinds of gadgets and gizmos to it.

"We have enough Australlium, but ah don't think I got the frequency from last night. It may take longer than expected." Dell sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Merde." The frenchman huffed and left the room.

*12,000 years into the future*

Marcus stopped as he ran. A small shock of pain went through him. He knew what that meant, Austin had told the team that a shock like that meant only one thing: Respawn was down. How it had only warned him a day after he arrived, he didn't know. Maybe the Upward respawn was the last remaining respawn point. He shook any negative thoughts he had off and kept running back to Octo Valley. The bridge was still there, thank god. As he re-entered the building, he saw the machine was unguarded.

"Awesome!" Marcus smashed the glass window. The room had several gadgets and stations around, all of the were whirring. He ran to the biggest one, presumably the controller and flipped a switch. The large machine in the middle started spinning, blue electricity crackling from it "Guys, I'm coming home!"

Marcus jumped into the center of the machine, then something exploded. He saw the stations put around the room explode in a pattern of sorts, just before the main one exploded, he closed his eyes and waited for the explosion. It was much louder than he anitcipated, but he didn't die. Instead, he was sent right out of the building and miles into the sky in a perfect arc, leaving a glowing trail behind him.

In the plaza of Inkopolis, Marie was watching the Octo Squids' news show. The Octo Squids were the most popular stars in Inkopolis right now, one of them was called Tenees, then the other was called Acule. Something unique about them was their makeup, making them look like Octarians. Marie loved them, but Callie hated them.

"Just you watch, Octo Squids. Someday, I'll be more popular than you." She glared at the screen, then a blue spark in the sky caught her attention. She squinted and it slowly became larger and larger in the sky, soon, some more Inklings saw it and half of the plaza was staring at the light. A roaring nosie eventually sounded in the plaza, causing all the Inklings to look up to the light, some of the shopkeepers even came out of their stores to watch, Tenees and Acule also stopped their show to see what was going on.

The light slammed into Inkopolis Tower, knocking the Great Zapfish off and making a huge dent in the steel beam. The now sparking light fell to the ground and faded, showing Marcus, he had taken heavy damage, burned, clothes torn and bruised. The plaza descended into chaos within seconds.

 **Yeah, Tenees and Acule. Betcha didn't expect to see them here, didja? Don't worry, the reason they're here will get explained. Also, Callie doesn't recognize them in Splat X 1 because, come on, if you didn't see people you hated in 25 years, you would forget them completely, wouldn't you?**


	4. Not a Kid vs not a Squid

"Ah!" Marcus shot up from the bed "Why am I back here?" He looked around the room "Did I get drunk or something? That's a question for later." He got off the bed, grabbed his hat and bag from nearby and ran to the door. Marie stopped him before he could get to it.

"Marie, I gotta go. I don't know why I'm back here, but I gotta get to Octo Valley, remember?" Marcus tried to run past Marie, but the young squid always blocked him off, despite being only half his height "Marie, come on."

Marie kept her arms out to both sides, shaking her head.

"Are you trying to say something?" Marcus continued his attempts to move past Marie, but they all ended in failure.

Marie pointed to another room "Look at the-" Marcus sped past her before she could finish, leaving her standing in the middle of the hallway.

"About time he left!" Callie grunted "What's so special about him, anyway? Why do you always bring him back here?"

"I-I just think he needs some help. He's confused and wants to go home. The best we can do is at least make sure he has a place to stay..." Marie avoided eye contact with her cousin, hands behind her back.

"He's going to be dead by tomorrow, just you watch." Callie went back into the room she had originally came from and continued watching the television.

*Dell's workshop*

Dell let his head fall onto the table. He couldn't do any more. No matter what he did, he just couldn't get the machine working.

"Ah'm sorry, fellas." He said as he hung his hat up on a hook "I've been working for almost two whole weeks now, but I just haven't been able to do anything. It's too difficult, even for me. Ah...Ah don't think we'll be seeing Marcus again." He looked down at the floor, putting his hand together. The room was silent, only from Misha's heavy breathing.

The moment of silence was then shattered by Miss Pauling bursting into the room "What happened to Marcus? He hasn't clocked in for two weeks and" She saw the sad looks on the team's faces, apart from the Spy's, he just stared ahead, hiding his emotions "What's wrong?" Miss Pauling adjusted her glasses and put the folder she was holding onto a bench.

"Marcus is gone." Misha shook his head slowly.

"What do you mean by that?" Miss Pauling raised an eyebrow.

"Two weeks ago, Marcus fell onto a haywire Teleporter. For plot convinence, ah managed to deduce that he had been sent rought 12,000 years into the future. Ah worked all day for these past two weeks, but I just can't get the machine right. He's probably gone for good." Dell said, taking off his goggls, showing his blue eyes.

"You can't be serious!" Miss Pauling gasped, stepping back slightly.

Wordlessly, Dell activated a monitor in the corner of the room. There were views of several security cameras placed around the building. Still silent, Dell showed Miss Pauling the footage of two weeks ago, when Marcus fell onto the teleporter.

*12,000 Years into the future*

"Damn, what happened here?" Marcus came across the wreckage of the lab. It looked like something had ripped it apart from the inside out. He ran up to the wrecked building and began looking around inside. A shadow going across the wall caught his attention as he made his way through wires and chunks of metal. He felt an odd sensation somebody was behind him. The Merc spun around, pulling out his Pistol. The Octoling from the yesterday was behind him, holding up a machine gun-esque weapon.

 _"Hey, this is the Octoling from this week. Heh, she saved me the trouble of looking for for, now I'll get her good!"_ Marcus grinned "Still stalking me, I see?"

"Ok, first off, what the hell were you thinking, trying to use an unstable machine!?" The Octoling shouted, pointing her gun to the center of the room, electricity cracked from a large device in the center.

"What do you mean? I don't remember doing anything with that." Marcus pushed the pistol onto the Octoling's forehead.

"Don't lie to me!" The Octoling fired a shot from her Rifle, Marcus dodged it at the last possible second and began shooting.

"So I guess we're doing this now!" He ducked behind a large piece of metal and reloaded "Need a Dispens-Oh, right." He popped out again an fired a few more shots, one hit the Octarian's hip, she yelled and began firing rapidly "Bad idea!" Marcus ducked back behind the metal. He tried to fire a few more shots, but his Pistol turned out to be empty _"Damnit! I need to save my Scattergun for desperate scenarios. Alright, I've only got one option left."_ Marcus ran out from behind the metal, holding a metal bat. His foe took out a large paint brush and swung it as Marcus swung his bat. The two collided with a loud clank, the battlers glared at each other, then pulled their weapons back. Marcus went for another swing, the Octoling blocked it and slapped Marcus with the brush, covering half his face in Ink, also knocking him over. He quickly scrambled back up and swung his bat, it collided with the Octoling's face and sent her spiralling across the room "Home freaking run!" Marcus laughed as the Octoling hit the ceiling and fell down to the floor, she hit her head on a metal pole on the way down.

Marcus grinned and put his bat back into his bag. He went over to the Octoling and hoisted her up "Alright, girl. Better do some explaining."

The Octoling opened her eyes slowly, she saw Marcus' face and yelped, forcing herself out of his grip "Don't eat me! I taste bad!"

"Hey, what's with the sudden attitude change? Just a minute ago, you were trying to kill me!" Marcus crossed his arms and walked up to where the Octoling was hiding.

"I-I don't remember that! I don't remember anything! Well, except my name and age, but that's all I know!" The Octoling panicked, running about like a crazed deer.

 _"Now that I think about it, she did hit her head pretty hard. She probably lost her memory. Well, now what do I do?"_ Marcus shook his head and sighed.

"I mean, all I really can remember is something hitting me really hard, then everything going all black! After that, I don't remember anything!" The Octoling grabbed her head, breathing heavily.

"Jeez, calm down! I don't know if I can trust you, considering you were just trying to kill me, but if this is all just an act, I will kill you. No questions asked." Marcus glared at the Octoling. The look struck fear into the Octoling's heart.

"I'm being honest, I don't know anything at all!" The Octoling picked up the brush she had used earlier "I don't even know what this is."

 _"That's pretty convincing. Ah, I need to keep my guard up. Like I said, this could all be an act."_ Marcus kept his glare on the Octoling "Fine." He retrieved the gun that the Octoling had previously used "See if you can use this. If you can't figure it out for shit, I trust you." He handed the Octoling the weapon.

"Alright." The Octoling flipped the gun around and over. She looked down the barrel "What's in here?" She accidentaly pulled the trigger, covering her face in Ink "Ah! Get it off!"

Marcus rolled his eyes and wiped some of the Ink off the Octoling's face, leaving a few marks "Alright, I guess I can trust you." He wiped his hands on his trousers "What's your name?"

"Um, my name's Trinity, I'm 20 years old, I think." Trinity scratched her head, grinning nervously.

"...Alright. Come with me if you want to live." Marcus turned around and saw that Trinity's sunglasses had fallen off during their fight "Put these on." He picked them up and gave them to Trinity, she quickly put them on her face.

 _"From what Cuttlefish told me, Inklings don't like Octarians. I'm going to have to find a way to get her into Inkopolis without arousing suspicion."_ Marcus tried to think of a plan, but nothing came to mind _"If only Dell was here, he could easily just build a Teleporter."_


	5. Of course it's Monday

**Ok, I lied, I won't be gong on holiday for a while. But there's still stuff ruining my summer. FUCK YOU, NATHAN FROM SCHOOL. Also, while we're here, I just want to say that Splat X is AU, which is why Ix broke his leg in X 1. Probably wasn't really obvious, anyway.**

"Right, so I need to get you into Inkopolis, without bringing any suspicion our way. Got any ideas?" Marcus crossed his arms, Trinity put one hand on her chin and look around the room.

"No, nothing." She shook her head.

"Great. Looks like we'll have to go straight through." Marcus sighed "I am not looking forward to this." He poked his head out of the lab, it was surrounded by several hundred Octolings and Octarians, all aimed at him "What day is it?" He looked to one of the officers.

"Um, it's Monday." The Officer replied.

"Of course." Marcus ducked as hundreds of Ink blasts came his way, they blasted through the window and splatted on the floor aroud Trinity, she recoiled back in fear.

"What's going on out there!?" She yelled, hiding behind a bent piece of metal.

"We're under attack! Get whatever that paint brush was!" Marcus shouted, pointing to the room where he had previously fought, the weapon in question was resting against the wall.

As Trinity went to retrieve the brush, Marcus' phone rang "Hm?" He took it out of his pocket and answered it "Hello?"

"Hey lad, it's Cuttlefish. I need ye help." Cuttlefish's voice was full of worry, wind blew into the phone's small microphone.

"I'm kinda busy right now!" Marcus moved to a safer position "Why do you need me specifically?"

"Well, I think Marie took some of ye advice the wrong way and she got mad at Callie. Now there's a Turf War between them going on in the house. I need ye to come over and calm 'em down."

"The heck's a Turf War?"

"I'll explain once it's all blown over. Just get here as soon as ye can." Cuttlefish hung up and put his phone away "Kicked outta me own house. Kids."

"Trinity, we need to get outta here, stat!" Marcus shouted. Trinity had the weapon in her hands, standing around and waiting for orders.

"What do we do!?" She looked around "Did ya find a teleporter?"

"No, but I just remembered something! Get up here and grab onto me!" He reached into his bag and pulled out a can of Bonk _"I only got about seven seconds of this. We need to get out of here fast."_

Trinity ran up the stairs and grabbed onto Marcus' back, holding on tightly "What's that drink gonna do?"

"Heh heh, you'll see." Marcus grinned and drank the whole can, the wind swirled around him and he jumped out of the window, leaving blurry trail behind him as he ran, any attempts to hit him simply bounced off and fell to the ground. The duo were out of range just as the invinciblity ran out.

"What the heck was that?" Trinity jumped off Marcus as he stopped to catch his breath.

"Bonk. It gives me some sort of energy boost that makes me immune to any form of damage." Marcus gasped for breath, hands on his knees.

"Wow." Trinity's eyes widened.

"Yeah, wow. Anyway, we need to get to Inkopolis, some kids I know are having some sort of big arguement." Marcus stood up straight "Shouldn't be long if I run at full speed. Grab on."

*Captain Cuttlefish's house*

 _"Hope he gets here soon. It's getting cold, too. This little war of theirs has been going on for half and hour, now."_ Cuttlefish sighed, shaking his head. A sudden cloud of dust and dirt from his yard let him know Marcus had arrived.

"About time ye arrived! How long did it take ye, anyway?" Cuttlefish sighed, arms crossed.

"Had a bit of a delay. Place got surrounded by Octarians, but on the upside, we got a new ally." Marcus moved to the side, showing Trinity behind him.

"Why did ye bring an Octoling with ya!?" Cuttlefish gasped, bringing up his cane.

"Easy, Cuttle! She kinda hit her head real hard. More than likely she lost her mem-" A blast of green ink hit Marcus before he could finish, the large window at the front of the house was shattered, Callie and Marie's screaming was now audible.

"All you do is shout at me!" Marie yelled "Go pick on somebody else for once!"

"Well maybe you should squid up, huh!?" Callie screamed back.

"So, want me to stop 'em?" Marcus wiped the ink off his side.

"Obviously." Cuttlefish opened the door, the main hall was covered by splats of pink and green ink, the majority of the mirrors and pictures had been shattered.

"Whoa, that's gonna cost ya." Marcus saw the shattered pictures and mirrors.

"It's the ink we should be worried about. It takes ages to clean outside of official Turf Wars. Good luck, anyway." Cuttlefish pushed Marcus inside, then slammed the door.

Marcus took a deep breath "Alright." He cracked his knuckles "Callie! Marie! Where are you!?" He shouted in his most serious voice.

"Ah! M-Marcus!" Marie stopped firing when she heard his voice. Pink ink splatting around her reminded her Callie wasn't stopping her assault on her bedroom soon. She transformed into her squid form and replenished her Ink supply, then jumped out and began firing at Callie.

Marcus had checked every room downstairs, the girls weren't in any of them. The ground was pink for the majority, so Callie probably had dominance there. He made his way up the stairs, the floor was mainly green, so each one had seemingly equal territory.

The door to Marie's room slammed open, breaking the hinges. Marie hid in the ink when she saw Marcus' death stare. Callie was too foccused on taking Marie down to notice anything, Marcus quickly exploited this and grabbed her by the hair, lifting her into the air.

"Hey! Let me go!" Callie yelled, swiping at Marcus' arm.

Ignoring the shouting, Marcus began walking around the room. Marie would make her eyes visible for a split second to see where Marcus was, then would quickly hide again. She made too much noise, one time though, immediatly catching Marcus' attention. Marcus slammed his hand into the ink, surprising him that there was something under it and not just floor. He quickly managed to grab Marie and pull her out, she reverted to her normal Inkling form when she was yanked out.

"I'm dissapointed, Marie." Marcus glared at the white haired girl.

"I-I'm sorry." She looke down, avoiding Marcus' gaze.

"So ye think ye lost ye memory?" Cuttlefish tilted his head, raising one eyebrow as he talked to Trinity.

"Probably. I mean, I don't remember anything before meeting Marcus." Trinity shrugged.

"Delivery!" Marcus dropped the two girls in front of Cuttlefish. The two of them looked up and saw Cuttlefish's angry look. Marie felt the tears coming already.

Marcus and Trinity stood awkardly as Cuttlefish yelled at the girls.

"So, what are you going to do?" Marcus looked to Trinity, who was staring off into space.

Trinity blinked as she was brought back to earth "Huh? Oh, um, I have no idea. I think I'll just stay with you, if that's alright." She put her hands behind her back.

"Guess that's alright. I just need to find something to do. I'll probably travel, try to find something to do with myself, now that I'm stranded." Marcus sighed "But I just don't want to leave the girls, ya know?"

"Why don't you want to leave them?"

"I just don't know. Seriously, I just don't know." Marcus scratched his head.

"Well, where you go, I go, then." Trinity sat down and got lost in her thoughts again. While Marcus was thinking of something to do, Marie walked up to him and held his hand. Marcus didn't react, only staring forward.


	6. Return to Upward

**I was planning to release this much earlier. But the document decided to completely wipe itself. Seriously, one day there was a huge amount of words, next day there was NOTHING. So...don't hate the player, hate the game.**

Trinity and Marcus quickly slipped out of the house and through the streets of Inkopolis, the morning smell was new to Marcus, with him being so used to other scents from the battlefield, usually the smell of bodies and smoke. Mainly the bodies.

"Why do you always wear those sunglasses?" He finally said as they walked through the barren streets.

"You expect me to know? I lost my memory, for crying out loud! You of all people should know that best." Trinity rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Marcus sighed deeply "You're right. Forget I asked."

Trinity's advanced hearing picked up footsteps behind them, she turned around and saw nothing but a pile of trash. She shrugged it off and caught up with Marcus, when she did, there were more footsteps. She stopped walking and held her breath, focussing. She heard very light breathing, even a heartbeat.

"Marie, I know you're there." She spoke. Marcus stopped when Trinity talked, turning around to see Marie appearing from behind a parked car.

"Marie? What are you doing here?" He walked up to her and crouched down to eye level.

"W-Well, after Grampa Cuttlefish finished telling us off, Callie got really mad. I...I thought she was gonna really hurt me, so I stayed up all night and" Marie was interrupted by a yawn "decided to follow you." She desperatly tried to contain her tears.

"Don't worry. It'll be alright." Marcus hugged Marie gently "I know you're scared, but we need to get you home." He stood up and took her hand.

"Oh, come on! I thought you said we were gonna go places!" Trinity whined, scowling.

"Oh, be patient, will ya?" Marcus grinned, beckoning Trinity to follow them. The Octoling grunted and started walking behind them, hands in her pockets.

As the trio walked, the streets of Inkopolis slowly came to life, Inklings began slowly trickling out of their homes to go do whatever Inklings did. Marcus really had no idea. Several Inklings gave them odd gazes, Marcus ignored them but Trinity would often return with a glare, nearly getting herself into a few fights.

As they arrived back at Cuttlefish's home, the old man in question ran out and grabbed Marie "There ye are, lass! Where'dja go?"

"She followed us." Trinity frowned, pushing a stray tentacle out of her face.

"Yeah, she said Callie got really mad at her, so she got scared and ran away, following us." Marcus shrugged, scratching Marie's head with one finger.

"Ah, Callie. The lass wants to speak to you." Cuttlefish shook his head and looked to the house.

Callie was watching from a window upstairs, when Marcus looked up at her, she quickly hid behind the curtains.

"Alright, I'll talk to her." He nodded and entered the house, going upstairs to Callie's room, then knocked on the door.

"Get in here, Marcus." Callie huffed as Marcus entered.

"You wanted to talk to me?" He closed the door and leaned against it, watching Callie.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I haven't been myself recently. My...my parents died. I've been living with Gramps and Marie for a few months, Marie's been living with Gramps ever since she was a baby, her parents abandoned her when they realised they couldn't take care of her." The Inkling turned her head away from Marcus.

"Oh man, I'm sorry for your loss." Marcus stood up straight, letting his arms fall.

"Don't be. I've done nothing but be a jerk to you and Marie. I just wanted to say sorry." Callie looked back to Marcus, he saw the sorrow in her eyes.

"Alright, I accept your apology." Marcus crouched down to eye level with Callie "You should probably say sorry to Marie, too."

Marie saw Callie walking out of the house, bracing herself for the worst. Instead, Callie walked up to her and was silent for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry, Marie. I really am." She said quietly, but loud enough for Marie to hear.

Marie quietly stared at her cousin for a couple of seconds, Callie knew the pain behind those innocent eyes. Slowly, Marie wrapped one arm around her "Okay."

A large smile appeared on Cuttlefish's face as the two girls reconciled "It's good to finally see them both happy again. I owe ya, don't I?"

"Don't worry about it, it's really the least I could do for you." Marcus returned the smile.

"Can we go now?" Trinity grunted, arms crossed.

"Alright. We'll go now." Marcus turned around, Marie quickly ran up to him and grabbed him "Marie permitting, of course." He turned back around to face Marie "What is it?"

"It's actually Callie's birthday next week and maybe you might like to stay?" The girl put her hands behind her back and rubbed her foot on the floor.

Trinity growled, gritting her teeth.

"Oh, lighten up, T." Marcus turned his head to her "It's just a week."

The week leading up to Callie's birthday went by pretty quickly, Callie managed to make new friends and even get some old ones back. Marie was slowly getting over her shyness, but found it hard to make friends of her own. Soon, Callie's birthday arrived.

Marcus and Trinity had to stay upstairs in a spare room, as Cuttlefish was worried seeing an Octarian and a creature that the Inklings hadn't probably seen before would cause some panic.

Marcus sighed, sitting on a wooden chair "I'm bored."

"Wow, we've bee here for 30 minutes and you're bored only now?" Trinity looked up from a book she was reading.

"I daydream." Marcus looked to the bookshelf, got up and went to see if there was anything that interested him. Nothing. He returned to the chair and sat back down.

Just as Marcus was about to drift into another daydream, the door knob rattled. He immediatly sprung to attention, grabbing Trinity and throwing her into a nearby cupboard, jumping in after her and quickly closing the doors.

Marie slowly opened the door to the room, poking her head through at first, then fully entering the room "Marcus? Trinity?"

Marcus fell out of the cupboard, quickly correcting his bullet hole filled Fedora "Oh, Marie. It's just you. Need something?"

"Callie wants you to come downstairs, she wants to show you something." Marie put her fist on her shoulder and used her thumb to point to the hallway.

"I thought Cuttlefish told us to stay up here." Trinity slowly made her way out of the cupboard, making sure her sunglasses were correctly put on her face.

"He did, but Callie asked her friends and they don't mind, as long as you guys don't cause any trouble...at least, that's what she said." Marie shrugged lightly.

"Don't worry, they can trust us." Marcus grinned and made his way downstairs, the main colour seemed to be pink, judging by all the decorations of that colour.

He entered the main room, Callie was sitting on a sofa near the middle of the room, talking to some other Inklings. She saw Marcus standing in the doorway and beckoned him over "I want to show you something."

Marcus smiled and walked over to her "What is it?"

The young squid lifted up the two tentacles on either side of her head, showing she was wearing seemingly clip on earrings, a yellow orb on each one, suspended by a chain. Something about them rubbed Marcus the wrong way, but he managed to hide his suspicious expression.

"Like them?" Callie tilted her head slightly and smiled.

"Yeah, they look pretty cool." Marcus replied, making absoloute certain Callie didn't catch any form of suspicion, look or tone of voice.

"Hey, Marcus?" Cuttlefish called to him from the entrance to the room "Ye might want to see this." He pointed to the kitchen.

Marcus stood up and walked into the kitchen, there was an old TV on a table, paused on Tenees and Acule's news broadcast.

"I don't get it. What's so important about this?" He motioned towards the box.

"Just watch." Cuttlefish picked up a remote and pressed the play button, the static bars on the screen faded and the sound of the Octo Squids' voice slowly came in.

"...news, there has been a strange light spotted eminating from a mountain base near the Badlands, believed to be the location of an ancient war." Tenees spoke, holding her palm to the screen behind her.

 _"Upward. That's gotta be upward."_ Marcus crossed his arms and continued watching the show intently.

"Wow, that's unusual." Acule shook her head.

"Yeah, it is. Investigators have been sent to scope the place out, but they haven't sent any messages ever since the day they were sent, leaving some to believe they've been killed or kidnapped." Tenees put both her hands to the screen and grinned, seemingly evilly.

Marcus immediatly grabbed the remote and paused the show "What colour is your blood?" He stroked his chin.

"Black, why?" Cuttlefish responded, tilting his head.

Marcus carefully stared at the black stain on Tenees' glove "I'm gonna have to go." He looked through the house to find Trinity, who was in the main room and leaning against the back wall, arms crossed and one foot resting on the wall, too. She ignored everything as she stared out of the window.

Marcus tapped her on the shoulder and whispered something in her ear, she nodded and stood by the door. When seemingly nobody was looking, they both slipped out of the house and took the quickest available route to Upward.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the RED Base, there was a blue light coming from it.

"I was here recently, this wasn't here when I was." Marcus gulped, quickly bringing out his bat.

Trinity's hearing picked up breathing, she spun around to where she thought it came from, a shadow behind her. There seemed to be a figure in it "Alright, if someone's there, come out." She cracked her knuckles and raised her guard.

"Look who it is." A voice spoke, the figure in the shadows dashed across from one building to the next, another bounced off the wall above the large opening the cart would be pushed through.

"Alright, who are ya?" Marcus tightened his grip on the bat.

The two figures appeared in front of the other two in a cloud of smoke. One of them had crazy blue Octarian hair, a white t-shirt with blood stains and grey skinny jeans. The other had long red Octarian hair the flowed down their back, their outfit was similar to the other one, but instead of a shirt, she wore a hoodie. Instantly, Marcus managed to recognize them.

"You're the girls from the news show." He rose his bat.

"Wow, you have a good eye." Tenees sneered.

"Why are you here? What's with the stain on your glove?" Marcus gave them a threatening look, but it had little affect on the two facing him and Trinity.

"I think we should be asking the first question. But, I'm impressed you saw the blood, good eye." Tenees grinned "And why is Trinity with you?"

"I don't know why you're asking that. How do you even know my name?" Trinity growled.

"Ignore 'em, T." Marcus stared the Octolings down "Now, what's going on?"

Tenees grinned manically, grabbing a knife and dashed at Marcus "More importantly, what what will you die!?" She rose her hand and plunged it down for a stab, Marcus quickly jumped out of the way and swung his bat into her face, quickly following up by shooting her with his scattergun. Tenees got back up and ran for Marcus again, she went for a punch this time, Marcus quickly blocked it with his bat. A jolt of pain went through Tenees' body, she shook it off and kicked Marcus in the stomach, kicking him down when he was incapacitated.

While Trinity was distracted watching the duel, Acule went in for a quick and easy kill, Trinity heard her approaching and she caught the falling hand, the knife barely going through the gap between her fingers. She delievered a flurry of punches with her other hand, knocking a few teeth out of Acule's mouth.

"Looks like you haven't forgotten your training." Acule grinned and put her knife away, sprinting to Trinity and throwing a punch. It was caught and she was thrown across the small battlefield, rolling along the floor and stopping on the edge of a wooden platform.

 _"What does she mean by training?"_ Trinity waited for Acule to get back up, then entered a fist fight with her, Acule suddenly grabbed her knife and went for a slash across Trinity's face, it missed but caught her sunglasses, pulling them straight off. They hit the ground with a clatter.

Trinity glared at Acule menacingly with her large violet eyes "You were in a big fat hurry to die, Acule."

Marcus had gotten back on his feet and continuing his fight with Tenees, she lept into the air and came hurtling down, foot first. Marcus slammed his bat into her foot, sending her into a wall. She went straight through the wall, landing on the other side. Marcus taunted her, then ran over to assist Trinity. Tenees suddnely sprung back up and grabbed Marcus by the neck.

"Ah! Marcus!" Trinity spun round when she heard Marcus choking, Acule quickly seized the oppurtunity and kicked her legs, knocking her down. She stomped her foot onto her head, laughing like a mad woman.

"Say goodbye!" Tenees cackled, tightening her grip. Suddenly, a shot of Ink from a charger hit Tenees, she was knocked off of Marcus and onto the floor. Marcus quickly caught his breath and stood back up.

"Marie, what are you doing here!?" He saw Marie standing on the wooden platform, looking down the scope of a sniper rifle.

"Oh, that brat!" Tenees stood up and vanished into the shadows, reappearing behind Marie and putting a knife to her neck "Surrender or the girl gets it!"

Marcus watched as Marie shivered in fear, tears falling from her eyes. Tenees' knife made contact with her neck, she whimpered.

That sent Marcus over the edge.


	7. Hidden Powers and Ancient Evils

Electricity sparked from Marcus, he glared at Tenees like he would leap and bite into her neck any second now. The earth shook as small rocks slowly floated up from the ground, eventually falling back down.

"Wh-What?" Tenees removed her knife from Marie's neck, but still held it up. She stared at the scene in awe and horror, mouth hanging open.

"Let...her...go..." Marcus growled, his skin would occasionaly flicker into a reflective red state, his head snapping up when it did, then falling back down. There was a large explosion as Marcus turned completely glowing red, his eyes pure yellow.

"What the!?" Tenees released Marie and held up her knife "Some stupid special effects aren't going to help you!" She leaped at Marcus, her knife came down with the speed of a bullet, but bent when it hit Marcus. The two exchanged looks for a few seconds "Please don't break my butt."

"Alright."

"Really?"

"No." Marcus threw Tenees around, slamming her into the floor over and over, creating small craters in the ground. He threw Tenees far into the sky, vanishing and appearing in front of her, kicking her into the wooden platform, shattering it.

Trinity pulled Acule over and quickly got to her feet, running to Marie and grabbing her hand before she could fall off the cliff "I gotcha!" She pulled the girl back up.

Acule saw Tenees heading towards her at break neck velocity, she slammed into her, knocking them both unconcious.

Marcus slammed into the ground next to the two Octolings, letting out a heavy breath as the reflective skin faded, his eyes returning to normal. There was still an odd red aura around him, however.

"Don't get too close to me for a while." He said firmly, walking into the RED building.

*Cuttlefish's home*

"Marie! Marie, where are ye!?" Cuttlefish scrambled through the house, sticking his head into every room, then moving on to another when he saw Marie wasn't there "Last I saw her, she was...oh, no."

"Callie, I have to leave for something, I should be back by six." Cuttlefish explained to the young girl.

"Alright. See ya later, I guess."

*Upward*

Marcus looked down the pit where the light felt strongest. The water had completely vanished, instead leaving a gaping hole. Darkness obscured the bottom of the pit.

"Well that's more unusual than an actual unusual." He scratched his head. He leaned over to get a better look, but lost his balance and fell down the hole, bouncing off the walls as he fell. He eventually landed in a large pool of water.

"You ok down there!?" Trinity yelled from above, her grip firmly on the railing.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I'll find a way out!" Marcus called, climbing out of the water. There was a small hole in the wall nearby "That's convinient." He jogged through the small corridor, eventually ending up at the edge of a large hole, light was coming in from above.

There seemd to be a formation of rocks in the perfect shape for climbing to the top, Marcus lept for the lowest rock, water was still on his hands and he fell, however.

"Not agaaaaain!" He shouted as he fell, hitting solid ground this time "Ungh!" He rolled over to his front and forced himself to stand up "Gonna need a Medkit for that." He grunted "Come on, there's gotta be a way out."

The former merc inspected the walls, eventually finding some liquid embedded in the wall. Curious, he pushed his hand through and grabbed something. Pulling it out, he found out it was a beating green heart. Marcus screamed and tried to throw it, but it stuck to his hand like glue. All his attempts to remove it ended in vain and evil laughter seemingly eminated from the heart.

"Thanks for reviving me." A deep voice laughed as a reflective pink liquid oozed from the heart, flowing up Marcus' arm and into his mouth. It soon made it way back up and out of his mouth after some gagging, reforming into another Marcus, but had the liquid dripping off him, sharp teeth and pure light green eyes with black slits for pupils.

"Man, that tasted disgusting. What are you?" Marcus wiped his mouth, standing up straight.

"Watch your step." The fake Marcus grinned.

"What?" Marcus stepped back a few paces and stepped on a pressure plate of sorts, four large rocks shifted out of the walls, each giving off a brilliant light. The fake Marcus laughed evilly and flew out of the hole, the glowing stones following him.

"Hey! Get back here!" Marcus shouted, removing the straps on his hands and grabbed some rocks poking out from the wall, managing to climb out of the pit. He saw the aura of his new clones fly into the distance, the stones following it.

"Great. I guess I need to do some research." He huffed, lowering his shoulders. The glowing red aura that surrounded him faded as he inspected his surroundings, he was near the back of RED's base. A window shattered and Trinity jumped out, holding Marie.

"Oh, there you are." Marcus turned to face her "You ok, Marie?" He looked down to the girl, who was still shaking slightly.

"I-I'm alright." She stammered, rubbing her neck, checking for scars.

"Good to hear." Marcus stuffed his hands in his pockets "Why did you follow me?"

"What?"

"Why did you follow me? You could have gotten killed!"

Trinity chuckled and shook her head "It wouldn't have done too much."

"She was going to slice her throat!" Marcus pointed to Marie's neck.

"I found out that you humans have their air ducts or whatever they're called at the front of their neck." Trinity tapped the front of her neck "But Inklings and Octarians don't. We have them on the back. Tenees must have also known this and used your knowledge against you. Try to scare you into surrender, get it?"

Marcus thought over the explanation "Alright, yeah, I think I understand." He nodded "But we need to get back to Cuttlefish's, I have a few more questions that I need to ask."

 _"I'm going to be in so much trouble..."_ Marie frowned, shifting her gaze to the floor.

*Cuttlefish's House, 3 Minutes Later*

 _"Wow, Marie ran off again? She must be really attached to Marcus."_ Callie thought as she put nail varnish on _"I probably should've gone with her."_ The party had finished, everyone had left and Callie was the only one in the house, Cuttlefish had ran out to find Marie. The fifteen year old girl put down the varnish and leant back in the sofa, looking up at the ceiling.

Something tapped Callie on the shoulder, making her jump. She turned and saw Trinity looking at her.

"Where's the fridge? I'm hugry." She crossed her arms.

Callie pointed to the kitchen. Trinity gave her a thumbs up and headed straight for it. The squid turned and saw Marcus standing on the opposite side of the room. But he looked...different.

"Hey Marcus." Callie nodded. Marcus grinned evilly. His eyes went from their normal state to pure greeen with cat-like pupils.

"Neat trick. So...you know where Marie i-" Marcus' hand shot out and grabbed Callie, wrapping itself around her neck.

 _"This isn't Marcus!"_ "Trinity! Help!" She called out, grabbing the liquid scarf and attempting to pry it off, but to no use.

The fake Marcus began to tighten his grip and strangle Callie. Just as Callie's vision started to fade, Trinity suddenly slammed into the fake Marcus, foot first. He was sent straight through the window and into the road outside. Callie fell to the floor with a thud, she grabbed her face and shook her head then stood back up.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Trintiy grinned.

Cuttlefish had just returned to see the fake Marcus smash through the window, leaving puddles of pink liquid as he flew. He slided along the ground, ripping it up, leaving a small river of liquid behind him. The liquid on the floor started moving toward him, he stood back up, free of any injuries.

"O-Octron..." Cuttlefish gasped as the liquid being stood back up.

"I didn't expect an Octoling of all things to be here. What's your name?" Octron grinned, looking to Trinity as she jumped through the hole in the window.

Callie grabbed her phone and punched in a quick text to Marcus.

'we got a problem where r u?'

Marcus replied within seconds 'How did you get my number? Heck, how are these things even able to send messages to each other? Marie wanted to go to Booyah Base or whatever it's called. Trinity should be with you by now, she might be able to help.'

 _"Man, he's fast!"_ Callie looked at the message in awe.

"Trinity, hm? Ah, yes, you were in the database." Octron sneered.

"Database?" Trinity tilted her head.

"Indeed. Seems the Octarians nowadays keep records of all their members. Your file was very...intriguing." Octron crossed his arms.

"..." Trinity raised her fists, ready for a fight. Octron grinned and threw a folder at Trinity. It landed at her feet with marks where Octron's wet fingers had been. She picked it up and opened it, there was a picture of her and all the information about her.

BIO

Name: Trinity Vanden

Age: 20

Rank: Super Elite

Skills: Hand to hand Combat, Sniping

Notes: Deadly in an unarmed 1 vs 1, Capable of taking out targets from 113M away, Prefers to work alone. !Do not talk to her about her parents!

Trinity quickly read through the rest of the folder, shocked, then dropped it. Was she really that much of a monster? She tightened her fists and charged at Octron. It collided hard with his face going straight through it. She grinned, then was immediatly shocked when Octron's face reassembled itself. He slowly regenrated his teeth, though Trinity knew there was an evil grin.

"Don't you dare." She gritted her teeth. Octron immediatly fully regenerated his teeth and chomped down on Trinity's arm. She screamed and forced her arm out, despite Octron's teeth still being on it, covering it in scars.

The Octoling crouched slightly, holding her lower arm "You're going to pay for this!" She threw her brown leather jacket off, showing she had a simple black vest on underneath, revealing part of her navel.

Octron grinned as he looked at the folder lying on the floor.

If she takes off her jacket, she means buisness.

 **Splat X 1 has over 5,000 views! Thank you all! You know what this calls for?**

 **"Rem! What does the computer say about its view level!?" Ix shouted, facing his sister.  
**

 **Rem slowly closed the laptop, scowling "IT'S OVER FIVE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!" She screamed, throwing the laptop out of the window.**

 **"What, five thousand!? There's no way that can be right!" Ix gasped.**


	8. Devastation

Marcus sighed impatiently, tapping his foot _"Jeez, it's been so long since I was with my family I forgot girls always took so long. Heh, Ma would've taken a minimum of an hour, it sometimes felt like."_

"Done yet?" He spoke, gently raising an eyebrow.

"Yep!" Marie grinned, she had a large bag full of dresses, hats, shoes and even a small weapon of sorts.

 _"Wow, how rich are these two?"_

*Cuttlefish's home*

"Yaaah!" Trinity lept forwards, holding her fist behind her head. She slammed it into Octron's chest and bit down on his neck.

Octron flinched when Trinity bit him "Is that all you got?"

Trinity released Octron from her mouth and retracted her arm "I can still go for more!" She grinned.

Cuttlefish ran over to Callie "Are ye alright, lass?"

"I'm fine. Nothing too major." Callie smiled confidently "Marcus should be here soon."

"Good. Listen, ye need to get to safety." Cuttlefish pushed her out of the room.

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine. Now go!" Cuttlefish slammed the door.

Trinity smirked and grabbed Octron's hand as it came flying towards her, slowly tearing it off "Ha ha! I guess you could say you're harmle-" Octron immediatly regrew his arm, Trinity gasped and dropped the arm. It turned to liquid and slithered back to Octron "N-No way!"

"Surprising, right? I'm pure liquid, Trinity. Nothing you do can stop me."

"I doubt that. Everything has to come to an end at one point." Trinity frowned.

Octron grinned and melted into a puddle slithering around Trinity and grabbing her arms, constricting her. She squirmed in his grasp, trying to push her arms out and break away from Octron.

 _"Quick, Trinity! Use your instincts!"_ She yelled in her head. Immediatly, she chomped down on the closest piece of Octron to her mouth, the liquid monster quickly moved his arm out of the way and Trinity ended up biting her own tongue "AH! SON OF A BITCH!"

Octron tightened his grip on Trinity, she screamed once more and forced herself out of Octron's bind this time. She spun around and kicked Octron in the side of his face. He stumbled and quickly recollected himself, holding his cheek. He took off his hand and saw small dots on his hand. She had damaged him.

"Impressive. No wonder you were such a high rank." Octron grinned. He looked to the house and saw Callie watching from upstairs, catching a glimpse of her earrings "Oh? So the girl has Potara Earrings?"

Trinity wiped some dirt off her arm "Potara Earrings?"

"Yes. They're incredible relics. If one being were to put one Earring on one ear while another were to put the other on the opposing ear, the two would fuse and become one entity. I don't know how she managed to acquire these, but if she isn't careful, the results may not be nice. For you." Octron grinned "But anything that cripples you is always a good thing for me. As long as there is destruction, I'm happy."

"Does that mean you just live for destruction?" Trinity hissed through gritted teeth.

"Indeed. There's nothing more satisfying than the sound of suffering." Octron sneered, raising an arm, his palm faced a large clump of houses.

"No. You wouldn't." Trinity's jaw slowly dropped as a ball of light appeared in Octron's palm.

"Yes. I would." He fired the ball. It collided with the buildings and exploded, devastating the buildings around it.

"Aah!" Trinity gasped as smoke billowed past. Octron lowered his palm and grinned maliciously. Clothes and other items flew threw the air. The severed and bloodied hand of a child landed at Trinty's feet "You heartless savage!"

"Indeed." Octron smirked.

Trinity screamed and ran at Octron "I'LL KILL YOU!" She punched him in the gut. Octron felt a quick spike of pain go through him. He winced and looked down to Trinity. Their eyes met, staring each other down. Trinity growled and kicked Octron's leg, knocking him down. She grabbed him by the front of the liquid shirt and began pummeling him repeatedly. She threw him into the air behind her and lept for him and kicked him, smashing him into the ground, leaving a large crater.

Octron flew out of the crater as a swirling mass of liquid, wrapping himself around Trinity's feet and pulling her down. A large fist formed in the center of the crater and punched Trinity back into the air. She flipped and landed on the roof of a house, then realised her mistake as the fist came flying towards her. She jumped and barely dodged the fist, screams were heard as the fist went through the house and a few others, destroying them.

"Bastard!" Trinity yelled, plummeting down to the fist and breaking it to pieces as she shot through it like a meteor. The liquid reformed into Octron's Marcus-like form again and grinned.

"Outstanding, you broke me apart."

"I'll make sure you stay that way soon enough!" Trinity shouted, flicking a tentacle away from her eye.

*Inkopolis Plaza*

"Come on, Marcus! We need to see what's going on!" Marie pulled Marcus along, back to the plaza.

Word had been quickly spreading that there as a huge fight going on at Skrill avenue, houses were being ripped apart. Apparently it was an Octoling against a liquid monster.

The monitor in the corner of the plaza displayed a very shaky view of the fight between Trinity and Octron. Occasionaly there would be a clear shot of one of the fighters, but they quickly blasted off the screen to continue the fight.

"Trinity? What is she doing!?" Marcus gasped _"Oh, I hope Callie and Cuttlefish are alright."_

*Skrill avenue*

Trinity was doing everything in her power to keep the fight away from Cuttlefish's home, but at the expense of the rest of the avenue being destroyed. Trinity desperatly tried to ignore the screams, but they always managed to get to her, throwing her off and leaving her open for attack.

"I thought you were serious!" Octron laughed, launching a barrage of swords made of ink from his palms.

Trinity jumped from side to side to avoid the incoming masses of concentrated ink, many barely missed her face and limbs, then one went straight through her side, taking her out for the count.

Cuttlefish immediatly ran to Callie's room "We need to get out of here!" He said, pulling her along to a chute "Get in!"

"But what about Trinity!?"

"Just get in!" Cuttlefish opened the hatch. Callie watched the unconcious Trinity for a brief second, then jumped into the chute, Cuttlefish quickly followed her.

"See you in hell!" Octron grinned maliciously, holding up his palm and charging an energy blast.

"Geronimo!" Marcus suddenly shouted, slamming into Octron from the sky.

Octron slammed into the ground, death staring Marcus as he lay on the floor. He then grinned and slithered into the sewers.


	9. Beginning of the end

Marcus picked Trinity up, supporting her by her back and legs "Come on, Trinity, wake up." He gently shook her.

Marie was observing the avenue from its entrance, staring at the destruction in shock "D-Did he really do all this?" She covered her mouth with her hand.

Trinity didn't move, remaining limp. Marcus quickly checked her pulse, which was still going "Oh thank god." He smiled, letting out a relieved sigh.

Marie ran down to the duo "Where's Grampa and Callie?"

"I don't know." Marcus slowly shook his head.

"Oh..." Marie sat down, resting her head in her hands. The sound of sirens suddenly faded in to the avenue, police cars, fire trucks and ambulances quickly screeching into the devastation.

"Don't move! Get down on the ground!" An officer shouted through a megaphone.

"But we didn't do anything! We just came to help Trinity!" Marie shouted back, swiping her palm to the side.

"I said, get on the floor! Now!"

"I'm sure they'll understand, Marie. Just do what they say for now." Marcus frowned, getting down on his knees.

*30 Minutes Later*

"Let go of me!" Trinity struggled in the grasp of the police members.

"Calm down, you're just going to be asked some questions!" One of the officers barked, the three eventually managed to get into a seat in an interrogation room, closing the door before she could run back out.

"You're lucky we haven't killed you, Octoling." An Inkling sitting in a chair the opposite side of the room said sternly "Now sit back down."

Trinity plunked herself on the seat, arms crossed and one leg resting over the other.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions, ok?"

"..." Trinity glared at the Inkling.

"First, what's your name?"

"Trinity Vanden." Trinity huffed.

"Ok, Trinity. Who or what were you fighting?"

Trinity was silent, only maintaining her glare.

"Trinity, we'll let you go after the next three questions."

"Fine. Get on with it." Trinity snarled.

In another room, Marie was also sat a table, terrified.

"Please, Marie. We just want to know what happened." The older Inkling she was talking to said softly.

"I-I don't know anything." Marie choked "We were just...just going to help Trinity." She wiped a tear away from her face.

"Are you sure you didn't see anything?"

Marie nodded quickly, looking to the door. The older Inkling sighed and dropped the paper he was holding "Okay, just wait outside. Your friends should be with you soon." The door opened and Marie left the room, sitting down on a plastic chair in the other room. Another Inkling came into the room.

"Anything?" He asked.

"No. She didn't see anything."

The standing Inkling rubbed his face, groaning "Great..."

Marcus soon joined her in the room, leaning against the wall closest to Marie "You ok, Mar?"

Marie nodded "Yeah." She said quietly.

A rather awkward thirty minutes of silence passed, with nobody doing anything. Marie would occasionaly try and start a conversation, but could never get the words out of her mouth. Trinity soon turned the corner, wearing the standard Octoling armour for some reason.

"What's with the armour?" Marcus motioned to the steel equipment.

"They're making me wear it. Where's my jacket?" Trinity frowned deeply, giving Marcus a very impatient look.

"I don't know."

Trinity let out a long and heavy breath _"Well shit, now I need to get a new one."_

Marcus' phone buzzed, he picked it up and saw he had a message from Callie. He gasped as he opened it up.

"What? What's wrong!?" Marie sprung up.

"Octron's caught Cuttlefish and Callie." He showed her the screen, there was a picture of Callie and Cuttlefish tied to a pole, hanging over lava, the accompanying message read 'Come to Octovalley if you want them alive!'

Marcus gripped the phone tightly to the point his hand began to shake "That bastard." He seethed.

"Marcus, calm down!" Trinity grabbed his face and forced him to look at her "We'll get them back."

Marie backed away slightly, in the event that Marcus would go crazy and start destroying things. Instead, he pulled Trinity's hands off his face and rolled his head around.

"Can we go?" He turned to the nearest officer.

"Yes." The officer simply replied.

*Octovalley, 10 Minutes Later*

"Oh, there they are now." Octron grinned as Trinity, Marcus and Marie came into view.

Marcus stopped at the edge of a cliff, glaring up at Octron "Let them go!" He yelled, clenching a fist.

"Of course. On one condition." Octron sneered "You give up and join me. You could have anything you wanted!"

"NEVER!" Marcus yelled, the ground around him shattered as his reflective skin returned. He jumped and rammed into Octron, immediatly grabbing his arms to increase the power of his following kick. The kick was quickly combined with a Scattergun blast. Marcus attempted to fire another shot while Octron was dazed, but all that came out was a click.

Click. Click. Click.

"Damnit! Outta ammo!" He tossed the gun away, his state returning to normal. Octron immediatly recovered and punched Marcus in the gut. Saliva flew out of his mouth and he put his arms over his stomach, letting Octron slam him back to Trinity and Marie.

Marcus pushed himself back up, coughing up dirt "We need to get Callie and Cuttlefish outta there."

"Takin' your time, ain'tcha lad!?" Cuttlefish yelled.

"Listen, Octron told me the Earrings Callie has can fuse two people together. If she lets us, we might be able to fuse together." Trinity quickly explained.

 _"Good thing I didn't tell them the fusion was permanent."_ Octron grinned malicously.

"If it will help us bring down Octron, then let's do it!" Marcus grinned.

Marie worriedly stared at the tank of lava that Cuttlefish and Callie were suspended over, then saw it was supported by a large rock.

"Try destorying that rock, we might be able to knock the lava down." She pointed to the rock in question.

"Good idea, let me handle this." Marcus lept for Octron, grabbing his back. Octron flew into the rock, shattering it, the lava spilled over the edge and fell to the bottom, the container hit the ground with a loud clang.

 _"That was surprisingly easy."_ Trinity shrugged, turning her attention back to Callie and Cuttlefish "Alright, how do we take care of these two?"

Marie narrowed her eyes "The rope looks rather weak...maybe we could..." She trailed off at the end.

"Don't worry, I think I know what to do." Trinity lept to another rock, then jumped off it, grabbing the constricted duo, snapping the part of the rope suspending them and landing close to Marie "Boom." She grinned as she got back up and untied the two.

Marcus landed next to Trinity, sliding along for a few centimetres before stopping. He groaned as he got back up "Oh good, you got them. Callie, we need those Earrings."

"Why?" Callie asked, flicking one of the earrings.

Trinity explained what the earrings could do, Callie took them off and stared at them for a few seconds, then sighed.

"Alright." She gave them to Trinity.

"Ok, who's going to-"

"I will." Marcus interrupted her.

"They fusion is permanent." Octron grinned as Trinity put on her Earring.

"What!?" Marcus gasped just before his Earring on.

"It is. Try taking if off, Trinity." Octron shifted his eyes to Trinity, who was struggling.

"I-I can't! It's stuck." She shouted.

Marcus sighed deeply and slowly shook his head. When he opened his eyes, he looked to the two girls. He crouched and beckoned for them to come over.

"Girls, I need you to listen."

"You're not really going to do it, are you?" Marie choked, holding her hands together.

"I've got no choice. I've always managed to get you in danger. Especially you, Marie. I think it's better off this way."

Callie looked down and nodded "I understand." She looked back up and hugged Marcus.

"Callie, wait!" Marcus pried her off him "I shoulda told ya...ach, it's too late, now."

"What do you mean?" Callie tilted her head.

Marcus didn't respond for ten seconds, only looking down "...Forget about it. I'll miss you." He stood back up and put on his earring, running over to Trinity "See ya." He grinned.


	10. Unity

As Marcus lowered his hands from his ear, a pulse of white light came from the earring and a small area surrounding Trinity and Marcus darkened, turning blue. Some unknown force began to push them closer to each other, pulling them off the ground. The two collided, cuasing a flash of lights to erupt, the ground ripping itself apart. Callie watched with her hands close to her chest as the now pictures of light in the shape of Trinity and Marcus fused into an orb of light. Marie was seemingly muttering some form of prayer as it happened.

The ball of light dispersed and a new figure appeared in its place, facing away from Octron. It was an Octoling with short but thick tentacles, wearing Marcus' Fedora. They had partially tanned skin and fairly small eyes, one being green while the other was blue. They wore the usual Octarian armour, but with red steel, longer shorts and a black streak that ran down the left on their torso, then the right on their legs. They looked up at the sky, then forward as they turned to face Octron.

"Who are you? Are you Trinity or Marcus?" Octron asked, slightly shocked.

"I am neither Trinity, nor Marcus! I am Trinitus! It's over, Octron! I've come for YOU!" The being shouted. Their voice was like Trinity and Marcus talking in unison.

"Trinitus?" Callie mumbled, lowering her hands.

Trinitus heard this and turned her upper body slightly to face Callie. She grinned and gave her a thumbs up, then turned back to Octron "Can your body withstand what's about to come?"

"My body is ready." Octron sneered "Yaaa!" He blasted forward, holding a punch behind his head. He threw it forward with all his might, hitting Trinitus square in the face.

"That tickled." Trinitus giggled. She suddenly vanished and several dents appeared in Octron's chest. Trinitus reappeared to Octron's side slamming her knee into the side of Octron's face twice. While Octron was recovering from the force, she flipped back and kicked Octron in the chin then headbutted him in the stomach, forcing him into a wall. She flew back as the chunk collapsed, covering Octron.

In the distance, a large Octopus figure was watching the fight, obscured by the shadows "Octron isn't defeated so easily." He said.

Trinitus hovered down next to the two girls and Cuttlefish "Done and done."

Callie put her hand on Trinitus' arm "Wow, that's a lot of muscle."

"Heh, I know." Trinitus grinned, flexxing her other arm. A loud boom came from the rocks "Huh!?" She spun to face the direction where it came from.

Octron burst from the rocks, screaming angrily as he reformed into a much more menacing version of Marcus "How dare you!? Nobody takes down the mighty Octron so easily!"

Trinitus jumped away from the group and hovered in the air as she and Octron stared each other down.

Trinitus screamed as she charged for Octron, slamming her foot into his neck. Nothing happened "What?" She went for a punch, Octron turned to pure liquid and slithered behind the Octoling, reforming and kicking her in the back to some rhythm, sending her flying away.

She landed on a wall and lept straight back for Octron, clamping her teeth down on his shoulder and tearing a chunk off "Yef!" She grinned. She spat the chunk out and gasped as the shoulder regenerated itself, good as new.

Octron's arm shot out and wrapped itself around Trinitus, allowing his other hand to slap her repeatedly.

"Doesn't this seem a little bit sexist!?" Trinitus shouted inbetween slaps.

"Nope!" Octron cackled, increasing the speed of his slaps, laughing maniacally. A sudden blast of combined pink and green ink blasted him in the back "What!?" He released Trinitus and let her fall as he turned to see Callie and Marie holding an Inkzooka aimed at him.

"Keep firing!" Marie yelled. Callie yelled as she kept her finger on the trigger, unleashing a mad barrage of ink tornadoes at Octron. Soon, only splurts of ink came out.

"Uh oh." Callie gasped, dropping the weapon. Octron hissed as he wiped the ink off his face, then held up his palm, charging an attack. The girls hid behind the boulder Cuttlefish was also hiding behind. Octron sneered as he launched the energy sphere, letting it hurtle towards the boulder. The trio braced for the inevitable quick boom, but nothing ever came, only a short bang, like two boxing gloves colliding. Cuttlefish poked his head out. Trinitus had stopped the attack and was holding it still with her palm. The energy sphere slowly dissipated into nothing but sparkles. Trinitus grinned confidently and held up her fist, crackling with electricity.

"Vy Volt Beam!" She yelled, sending a beam of yellow sparks at Octron. He barely dodged it as it shot into the clouds, causing a brief lightning storm.

"That's new." Octron smiled. Trinitus flew up at him, holding her fist in front of her. Octron let himself fall towards her, foot first. Trinitus suddenly moved to the side as Octron got close, slamming her foot down into his head, sending him into the ground at transonic speeds. The liquid scattered across the ground, bubbling with Octron's rage. Trinitus held her hands together, aiming them down where Octron hit the ground.

"You've got an express ticket to hell!" She grinned, launching a mad barrage of electric bolts. The trio on the ground held on tightly to the boulder as winds whipped around the battle area. A huge dome of electricity slowly formed from Trinitus' barrage "Electro" She held her fist to the side of her head "SHOT!" She launched a large lightining bolt at the dome, turning it into a huge lightning strike on that one spot. Dark clouds formed, a storm quickly brewing.

"THAT! IS! IT!" Octron screamed as he came out from the wreckage, covered in holes and burn marks.

"Someone's a bit pissy." Trinitus chuckled, wiping some dirt off her arm. Octron yelled loudly, a purple fire surrounding him. He flew to Trinitus, grabbing one of her tentacles, putting his feet on her shoulders and pulled on the tentacle. Trinitus screamed in agony as Octron pulled harder on the tentacle. Just as he was seemingly about to rip it off, she grabbed his hand and pried his fingers off, allowing her to regain her stature.

Octron went for another attack, this time spinning around Trinitus and roundhouse kicking the side of her head. He followed up by uppercutting the other side, leaving a bruise on the fused Octoling's cheek.

Trinitus shook it off and looked to Octron "Did you know your nose is bleeding?"

Octron curiously wiped his nose, stray liquid stained his arm.

"Clean yourself up. It's humiliating." Trinitus huffed, crossing her arms.

Octron tore off his nose, immediatly regenerating it.

"A bit gruesome, but alright." Trinitus grinned "Now, let's go again!"

"Does that girl ever give up?" Cuttlefish watched the fight start again, the combatants speeding around the valley.

"She looks like she still has a bunch of energy left. Maybe she's got some trick up her sleeve?" Marie shrugged.

"She doesn't have sleeves." Callie rolled her eyes, one hand on her hip.

"It's a saying, lass." Cuttlefish said.

Trinitus used her arm to stop a slam attack from Octron, her knee quickly colliding with Octron's gut. He recoiled in pain, letting Trinitus unleash a deadly barrage of kicks and punches, ending the assault with a quick jolt of electricity. Octron snarled and quickly kicked his opponent twice in the face.

Trinitus wiped her face, frowning "Then I guess I've got only one choice left."

"Hm?" Octron raised an eyebrow.

The large figure in the shadows foccused on Trinitus as she brought both fists up to her hips.

Trinitus stretched her arms out to both sides, putting herself in star pose. The storm began to fade as Trinitus absorbed the electricity from the clouds, electricity crackled from her body as she did.

"Is this her secret move?" Marie tilted her head.

 **Is this the final blow against Octron? What exactly IS Trinitus' secret? All this and more in the next exciting episode of Splat X: Negative!**

 **Coming in two weeks. I AM SO SORRY FOR HAVING TO MAKE YOU WAIT SO LONG, going on holiday. To make up for this, I'll make the next chapter EXTRA long, I promise!**

 **Well, Dread out, for now!**


	11. It ends here

Lightning sparked from one cloud to another above Trinitus, the wind lashing everyone's faces. The ground beneath Trinitus collapsed, turning into a crater as the loose rocks flew away. Trinitus laughed the pain off, an evil grin on her face.

"What's she planning?" Cuttlefish shook, eyes fixed on the flying Octoling.

Octron didn't move one bit as clouds covered the sky, lightning striking across the valley. One particular bolt barely missed Cuttlefish and the girls, leaving a scar on the ground. The bolts continued striking closer to Trinitus, eventually aiming at her.

Trinitus held her hands to her front, locking them in position. Lightning would occasionaly crack from her palms, tearing the ground apart.

Cuttlefish grabbed Callie's arm, pulling on her "We need to move, lass! Now!"

"No!" Callie yelled, yanking her arm from Cuttlefish's grasp.

"If we stay here, the lightning's going to hit us! It'll be fried squid for dinner, Callie!" Cuttlefish barked, grabbing her once more and tugging.

"I don't care!" Callie screamed, kicking Cuttlefish down "It doesn't matter if I die, but get Marie out of here!"

Marie turned from the arguement to Trinitus, who was still laughing, the electric strikes from her hands becoming more frequent "Please be careful." She murmured.

"Listen, Octron! Not even a regenerative being such as yourself could withstand the full force of this attack!" Trinitus shouted, the clouds fading as their electric charge depleted "But if you want to find out if that's not the case...Stay. Right. There!"

Octron smiled confidently, lowering his arms as if to catch whatever was to come.

"Trinitus! Stop it, now! You're going to destroy the planet!" Marie yelled as loud as she possibly could. Trinitus didn't pay any attention to her.

Callie realised her mistake in staying as the lightning hit its strongest points. She grabbed the back of Marie's dress and ran.

"Not so fast!" Cuttlefish called after them, running as fast as his old legs would let him.

"Gurandoraitoningusutoraiku!" Trinitus screamed "RAAGH!" A gigantic sphere of electricty burst forth from her hands, turning into a beam, hurtling towards Octron.

"Oh shit!" Octron gasped as the attack devoured him. Callie, Marie and Cuttlefish shielded their eyes from the incredible light coming from the attack. The beam tore through the valley, continuing on a huge path of destruction until it shot far into space.

*Meanwhile on Pluto*

An alien creature sat down at a rock table, holding a rock sandwich and rock drink. He looked to the sky and saw a second light ball _"There's two now?"_ He wondered. He soon noticed the second light was getting continuously larger.

Another alien creature walked up next to him, then saw the light he was staring at in the black void above them "Huh, what's that?"

The beam collided with Pluto, vaporizing one half of it, including the core, which then proceeded to explode in a beautiful, yet violent matter. A small piece of Charon had been ripped off, but it hadn't sustained much damage.

*Back on Earth*

Callie slowly opened her eyes, seeing a small twinkle in the sky which soon faded _"What was that?"_ She thought.

Trinitus lowered her hands as the smoke cleared. There was an arm of Octron left, his heart hanging out of it.

"Damnit. I missed." Trinitus sighed, shaking her head.

"Look what you did to me! I'll make you pay for this!" The heart throbbed as Octron's voice came from it.

The figure in the shadows was still watching. Trinitus' attack had impressed him, but he wasn't going to get closer any time soon.

Trinitus grinned, then gasped as Octron's arm turned to pure liquid, wrapping itself around the heart then speeding towards her. The liquid shot into her mouth, running through her veins to her brain. It began to cover the brain, but then, reality cracked around Trinitus.

Trinitus disappeared, being replaced by Trinity and Marcus shooting off in opposite directions. Trinity landed near Callie and Marie, while Marcus wound up on another cliff.

"Trinity!? Marcus!?" Callie gasped, looking to Trinity, then Marcus, then back to Trinity.

Trinity groaned, closing her hand into a fist "Ack...what happened?" She grunted.

"I don't know! One moment the person you fused into was fighting Octron, then he flew into their mouth and you split apart." Callie explained frantically, shivering slightly, as Octron was now just a floating orb in the sky.

 _"They won't be able to hear me from here. Damn, I never got to really say goodbye."_ Marcus sighed, looking down at the floor.

"I'm through with you, now! This is the end for you!" Octron screamed, flying through the valley, connecting himself to several parts of scrap lying around, then flying down to the domes. He screamed as he began to bring several loose pieces of the domes towards him, soon resulting in a large mech suit.

As Marcus was about to find some way to get to the others, the mech burst forth from the ground. Octron cackled, slowly turning it to a laugh, then a full on mad laughter.

"You're all going to die here!" He bellowed.

"No!" Marcus yelled up at Octron.

"What?" Octron looked down to the human.

"I'll do you a deal." Marcus said.

"Alright." Octron grinned, a cage suddenly appeared around Marcus, then Callie, Marie, Trinity and Cuttlefish "If I kill you, they go free. If I kill them, I can send you back to your time."

"...How did you know I'm from the past?" Marcus frowned.

"I absorbed some of your knowledge when I created my new body using you." Octron explained "Now, make your choice!"

Marcus dropped his hands, looking over to the group on the other rock "Let me speak to them, first."

"Fine!" Octron growled. He put a microphone and speaker in both cages "2 Minutes and 30 seconds."

Marcus let out a heavy sigh "Listen, in the few weeks I've known you all, you really changed me, you know?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Callie asked, barely keeping her tears in.

"You taught me that there's always somebody there to help you. I probably would already be dead without you." Marcus smiled "Callie, when I first met you, I never expected that this was you. I'm sorry for the pain I ever caused you."

Callie nodded slowly, wiping her eyes with her arm.

"90 seconds." Octron stated firmly.

"Alright. Marie, following me and putting yourself in such dangerous situations for my sake was incredible. Where I came from, somebody of your age would just run. You're just amazing. Both of you." Marcus grinned.

Marie fell to the floor, sobbing "Please don't go!" She choked.

"I'm sorry, Marie."

"I'm going to take this as a sign you want them to be let free?" Octron questioned.

"Yeah. I'm not done yet." Marcus nodded "Cuttlefish, I don't know much about you, but thanks for doing what you did."

"No problem, lad."

"And Trinity...Oh, Trinity." A large grin appeared on Marcus' face "You're my best friend."

"Same to you." Trinity half smiled, getting Marie to her feet "Come on, Marie."

"I'm done. Let them go." Marcus dropped the microphone. Octron removed the cages, dropping them to the bottom of the valley.

"Let's go." Trinity stated firmly, heading for the exit of the valley, holding the still sobbing Marie "Shut up!" She yelled.

"B-But-"

Wordlessly, Trinity jabbed Marie in the stomach, knocking her out cold. Callie let out a quick gasp when she saw Trinity do it, but decided not to take any action. Clouds began to form again, thunder soon boomed throughout the valley. The black haired inkling temporarily stopped and turned, seeing Marcus ready to fight the large mech.

"Lass! Move it!" Cuttlefish shouted from near the exit.

Callie ran to the exit, but stood under the arch, watching Marcus face Octron.

Octron's fist came flying towards Marcus, he jumped and ran up the long arm, his shoes clanging against the metal. He swung his bat into the head, where Octron himself was residing. The bat was bent horribly out of shape.

"Gah!" Marcus threw the bat away, jumping off the mech _"Great...looks like this wasn't the way I wanted to go."_ He sighed and looked towards the exit of the valley "Trinity! 25!"

Trinity heard the number, writing it down on a notepad.

"Well, Octron. You win. Kill me." Marcus dropped his bag, the empty guns in it collided with a clonk. Octron grinned maliciously, grabbing Marcus with one hand and beginning to crush him.

Marcus knew Callie was watching. He couldn't scream, he would be weak. This was the last time they would see each other. He had to be strong. Instead, he grit his teeth to deal with the pain.

"No!" Callie screamed, reaching out. Octron let out a mighty laugh and threw Marcus over to Callie. He collided with the ground, leaving an imprint on it. Slowly, he looked up to face Callie. He reached for his hat, took it off and held it out to Callie.

"See ya..." He smiled weakly, slowly closing his eyes and letting out his last breath. His grip on the Fedora loosened, letting it fall to the ground.

Her face covered in tears, Callie picked up the hat and ran.

Octron marched over to the dead body, cackling. He held his foot above Marcus' lifeless body, ready to crush it into nothing.

"Octron. It's been a while." The Octopus who had been watching from the shadows spoke.

"Oh?" Octron lowered his foot, leaving the body "It has...Octofather."

 ***DBZ ending music starts playing***

 **The death of Marcus brings sadness, despair, but, in 25 years time...hope.**

 **Ok, I lied. I somehow ended up with so much time that I could just post this now. I hate that I did it, too. Plus, I felt guilty about leaving everyone in the dark. But anyway, this gives me more time to write...well, you'll find out soon enough.**


End file.
